Is anonymity a curse or a blessing? The Internet community is going to have to address this issue. Privacy advocates promote anonymity, while security-conscious individuals and law enforcement officials want to end it. So exactly what are the benefits of anonymity? And what are the drawbacks?

The drawbacks to anonymity are apparent daily. There's spam, for starters. The e-mail addresses of spammers are carefully hidden so we can't complain when we receive these onerous missives. Junk e-mailers annoy us and make us waste our time erasing their messages, but because of anonymity they are not subject to the same annoyances. You can't write them to complain. You can't spam them back. The honest spammers who actually leave return addresses get the brunt of the return hate mail.

Then there is the poison pen letter. Calling anyone you want a jerk is easy with a quick e-mail. Heck, you can even threaten to kill a person with little chance of repercussions. While poison pen-letters have always been possible through the mail, sending them has never been this easy. And when you combine this with the possibility of massive hate postings all over the Net, you have a serious problem.

Then there is the Caspar Milquetoast who is a tough guy in online forums but could never say anything to anyone's face. There must be thousands of these characters. A lot of these folks make excellent points in the forums but also go out on limbs with radical notions without fear of reprisal. A number of people in online forums seem borderline crazy and are better handled anonymously just in case they crack.

And I suppose this brings us to the benefits of anonymity. People can express themselves without fear. That's the reason well-run democracies have secret ballots. You can vote one way and say you voted another way. Chat rooms are full of people who hate their jobs, their spouses, their lifestylesand openly discuss these feelings anonymously. The downside, of course, is that communities of sociopaths often congregate to honestly discuss how they think having sex with horses is normal. Next thing you know, they're forming clubs and demanding special zoo hours for them alone. These folks would say nothing at all if there were no anonymity.

Curiously, those for and against anonymity seem to have the same positive motivationprotecting democracy and freedom. The pro folks say that taking political debate to the highest level of discussion is not possible without some anonymity. Whistle blowers are a good example of why anonymity is necessary. Once they are discovered, they are fired and ruined. The anonymity folks will cite examples from law enforcement showing how attacking organized crime in particular and crime in general would be impossible without the use of anonymous sources.

Those against anonymity would argue that in crime-fighting, anonymous sources are not reliable and can be abused, leading to the ruin of innocent people. Furthermore, anonymity is often used to illegally move secret information. People and corporations are often libeled by those who spread false information. In fact, the spread of false information is what makes anonymity so dangerous. In the long haul, anonymity could ruin the veracity of the Internet as an informational network.

It's clear to me that anonymity is both good and bad. Anonymity has its place, and has always had a place in society. But the Internet is something new. Does anonymity have a right to exist as such on this new medium even if the risk is great? Twenty years ago, there was no Net and we were doing fine with the issue of pre-Internet anonymity, so would technologically ending Net anonymity once and for all be a disaster? What changed that makes anonymity on the Net so important? And what would things be like if the Net had evolved to this day with anonymity being an impossibility? Ask yourself if we would be demanding anonymity on the Internet if we never had it in the first place.

And also ask yourself how much long-term anonymity we can expect as computers become more and more identifiable through MAC addresses and perhaps CPU serial numbers. Could this entire anonymous Internet era be a short-term phenomenon that will soon end? Questions. Questions. Let's see what comes out of an open debate on this topic.

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About the Author

John C. Dvorak is a columnist for PCMag.com and the co-host of the twice weekly podcast, the No Agenda Show. His work is licensed around the world. Previously a columnist for Forbes, PC/Computing, Computer Shopper, MacUser, Barrons, the DEC Professional as well as other newspapers and magazines. Former editor and consulting editor for InfoWorld, he... See Full Bio

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